This application claims benefit of Japanese Applications No. 2000-140765 filed in Japan on May 12, 2000 and No. 2000-273792 filed in Japan on Sep. 8, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an endoscopic image filing system having a cleaning apparatus for cleaning an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
An endoscope apparatus which is provided with image pickup means in an endoscope whose elongated insertion section is inserted into a target portion to be examined, such as a coelom and which displays an image of the target portion to be examined, i.e., an endoscopic image, which has been picked up by the image pickup means on a monitor has been utilized conventionally.
Recently, an endoscopic image filing system in which an image filing apparatus for recording endoscopic images is connected to the endoscope apparatus is widely utilized.
In the endoscopic image filing system, when an endoscope switch, such as a release switch, provided on the endoscope apparatus is pressed, a still image of the endoscopic image displayed on the monitor is recorded in the image filing apparatus.
The endoscopic image filing system not only records the endoscopic images, but also can record a variety of information with regard to an endoscopic examination, such as observations and diagnosis for recorded endoscopic images by a doctor or the like, patient information, such as an age and a sex of a patient, a started time and a completed time of the endoscopic examination, and the like.
Incidentally, the endoscope used in the endoscope apparatus must be sterilized/cleaned after using. Recently, a cleaning apparatus is used for a sterilizing/cleaning step, which can automatically be executed by virtue of previously programming the sterilizing/cleaning step. In such the cleaning apparatus, cleaning can also be executed by manual setting without using the programming. Depending on the circumstances, there is a case that a nurse or the like washes the endoscope by using cleaning tools and chemicals (hereinafter refers to as a hand washing).
There is an endoscopic image filing system that can reserve endoscopic examinations performed by the endoscope apparatus. In such a reservation, subjects of reservation information includes information on an endoscope suitable for the examination as well as information on a patient, an examination date, an examination room to be used and so forth.
Plural kinds of endoscopes are provided for one endoscopic apparatus so as to be used selectively depending on an examination target or a content of an examination. In a hospital constructing an endoscopic image filing system or the like a plurality of endoscopes are often prepared for each kind for the reservation of the examination.
The information on the reservation of the examination in the endoscopic image filing system includes the information on the endoscope to be used, as described above, however the endoscope can not be used if the endoscope has yet not been sterilized/cleaned. Conventionally, whether the reserved endoscope has already been sterilized, cleaned or not, cannot be recognized until immediately before the examination. If the reserved endoscope has never been cleaned, one must either look for the same kind of an endoscope as the reserved endoscope or clean the unclean endoscope. Therefore, the problem that the examination cannot be performed efficiently in spite of reserving arises.
An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic image filing system in which an endoscope is sterilized/cleaned reliably and an endoscope examination can be performed efficiently.
Another object of the invention is to provide an endoscopic image filing system in which a designated endoscope can be sterilized/cleaned reliably before examination so that an endoscope examination can be executed efficiently.
A still another object of the invention is to provide an endoscopic image filing system in which an endoscope can be sterilized/cleaned reliably, the reserved endoscope can be used for another examination during an interval from a reservation time to an examination time, and an endoscope examination can be executed efficiently.
A further object of the invention is to provide an endoscopic image filing system in which a plurality of endoscope can be sterilized/cleaned reliably, frequencies of use of the endoscopes can be averaged, and endoscope examinations can be executed efficiently.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an endoscopic image filing system in which other medical image data, such as an ultrasonic image, a CT (computerized tomography) image and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) image, can be managed collectively based on patient information and so forth, as well as an endoscope can be sterilized/cleaned reliably, and an endoscope examination can be executed efficiently.
An endoscopic image filing system according to the present invention comprises an endoscope apparatus for inserting an endoscope having peculiar information into a coelom, to pick up an image of a region to be observed and generate an endoscopic image, and an image filing apparatus for recording the endoscopic image, cleaning information from a cleaning apparatus for cleaning the endoscope, and the peculiar information.
The other futures and advantages of the present invention will be apparent with the following description, sufficiently.